Anna Lapwood, the multi-talented organist, conductor and BBC broadcaster, talks to Amanda Holloway
‘‘You never know how long you’ve got to make a difference, so if it makes you happy, cram your life as full as you can! ’’
From directing her Cambridge choirs to playing the organ and presenting on TV at the Proms, the multi-talented musician tells Amanda Holloway why she prefers her diary to be full
When the first lockdown was imminent, many people panic bought pasta, tinned tomatoes and Andrex. Not Anna Lapwood. She ordered a large two-manual electronic organ to be delivered to her top-floor Royston flat. No Netflix for her – she was determined to use the time to practise and to conduct online rehearsals with her two choirs at Pembroke College, Cambridge.
Her diligence during lockdown has paid off. She is ready for her BBC Proms debut on 7 September in Saint-saëns’s Symphony No. 3 (the Organ) with the Hallé Orchestra and Mark Elder; and her first solo organ disc, recorded during lockdown on the Ely Cathedral organ, will be released shortly afterwards on Signum. Over Zoom, she shows me her organ dominating one wall of her sunny flat, where she has spent the afternoon playing through new repertoire. It’s Lapwood’s fifth year as director of music at Pembroke, the job to which she was appointed at the remarkable age of
21. Her life is full of awesome statistics: as a child she learnt to play 15 instruments (counting several sizes of recorder!); at 16 she was principal harpist of the National Youth Orchestra (NYO), and after taking up the organ in her teens, at 18 she won an organ scholarship to Magdalen College, Oxford – the first woman scholar in the college’s 560-year history.
It’s an achievement worth celebrating, but in her many recent interviews it’s almost the only thing that is mentioned. Why isn’t Lapwood’s virtuosity, versatility and mastery of this extraordinarily difficult instrument discussed, rather than her gender? She nods vigorously. ‘Obviously I would dearly love to be just an organist, and just a conductor, rather than “that female organist”. It’s so easy for people to say, “Oh yes, she bangs on about gender a lot” when it’s often the interviewer emphasising that topic.’ She recalls an hour-long interview about her musical
life which was edited down to a small segment about gender, marginalising her achievements as a musician. ‘People can be quick to assume that it’s why you get work – you’re ticking a box,’ she says. ‘I rationalise that by saying “OK, maybe I’m booked occasionally because I’m female, but I hope I am re-booked because my playing or my conducting speaks for itself.”’
And by making it more normal to see a female organist, she hopes the next generation will be booked not because of their gender but because they’re good. Lapwood will certainly be visible in the Albert Hall on 7 September, waiting for her mighty moments in the Saint-saëns.
She describes her first experience of playing the massive Albert Hall organ aged 17 as ‘one of those formative moments’ of her life. The NYO had asked her to play the organ part in Vaughan Williams’s Toward the Unknown Region and she had a midnight practice session with just her father present. ‘Being in a hall like that by yourself and being able to make that much noise is extraordinary. I thought, hang on, this instrument is so much more than I knew. It was the opposite end of the spectrum to the tiny little chapel organ I’d been playing.’
Lapwood’s father is a priest, her mother a medic; she has inherited their practicality, drive and social conscience. Her passion for music grew in childhood, as she kept learning new instruments just to see how different music sounded on each. She added piano, violin, viola and harp to her tally before she came across the organ. ‘I spent almost all my free time making music not because I was pushed, but because I wanted to do it. I was in choirs and orchestras and jazz bands, and that was my social life. Even at that young age I was a bit of a workaholic and that actually came in useful later in life.’
She is still a workaholic – there’s no other way she could fit in the full-time job at Pembroke with the solo career, the recordings, the TV presenting and the teaching work with children in Africa (for the charity The Muze Trust). ‘If you don’t get used to having lots of free time, it’s all right,’ she says, only half-joking. ‘I do always take a week off in the summer to go on a walking holiday with my parents.’
Aside from her tongue-in-cheek Twitter hashtag #playlikeagirl, she has been creative in finding ways to introduce girls to the organ. There’s an annual Cambridge Organ Experience for Girls, which provides taster sessions, while more experienced players can take part in the annual Bacha-thon, Bach’s complete organ works performed over 24 hours to raise money for Pembroke’s music outreach in Zambia. For Stainer & Bell, she has commissioned 12 organ pieces by female composers based on Gregorian chant and going through the church year. ‘It’s designed to be accessible so young organists can incorporate it into their repertoire early on. Working with some composers who have never written
‘Playing the Albert Hall organ was one of those formative moments in my life’
for the organ, I’m having to overcome some misconceptions. I’m working with them to explore the idea that the organ can be beautiful and quiet and mysterious; it doesn’t have to be just loud and bombastic.’
It was at Oxford High School that Lapwood’s conducting experience began, starting in Year 9 when she led the Year 7 choir rehearsals. ‘I was fascinated by the idea of shaping sound and getting the singers to blend better. The head of music, Roger Spikes, let me start conducting the orchestra, and then it snowballed.’
At Magdalen College, conducting took more of a back seat. ‘I had no time to think about it because I was trying to do a degree and play the organ for eight hours every day. I did some towards the end of my time, but I always found it terrifying. When I went to Pembroke, I really started discovering who I was as a conductor.’
Her gestures have a dancing quality, a fluidity that signals the ebb and flow of the music and is clearly understood by the singers. ‘Both choirs at Pembroke are great because they let me experiment with gesture. It’s a conductor’s dream to have a group of people who aren’t judging you and you are all learning together.’
She founded the Girls’ Choir in 2018 with the college’s full support. ‘I love the age range I’m working with: 11-18. You get the very young untrained voices but also the quite mature, richer voices at the top end of the spectrum. Bringing those together creates something really special.’ Following the success of her first choral release last year, she’s preparing for recordings with the Girls’ Choir in the summer and the Chapel Choir in autumn, both of which will feature new commissions by female composers.
One of the few benefits of lockdown for Lapwood has been the chance to reconnect with the organ and prepare her first solo recording. ‘Being able to sit and play for eight hours a day was something I hadn’t done since I was an undergraduate. I made a transcription of the Britten Sea Interludes on my computer and my little organ, visualising what it was going to sound like. Then I got to take it to Ely Cathedral. I will never forget being able to play it for the first time on a proper organ and hear it all dancing around the space.’ Boosey & Hawkes are publishing her transcription, and her forthcoming CD pairs the Sea Interludes with French music, including her own transcription of Messiaen’s Vocalise-étude, which she says is ‘like stepping into a jazz lounge’. Always keen to promote contemporary composers, she has also included works by Kerensa Briggs, Cheryl Frances-hoad and Owain Park.
Her enthusiasm for music led to her own classical music show on BBC Radio Cambridgeshire, and she has been a frequent contributor to BBC Radio 3 and 4. In May this year she co-presented TV coverage of BBC Young Musician and was an instant success. Her appreciation of the finalists’ journey and her articulate comments on their performance was illuminating, and she has been asked to join BBC TV’S presenting team for the Proms this summer. She’s determined not to let presenting distract her from her musical career, however. ‘Shiny things come along and you think, maybe? But you have to think about the wider picture. I had some good advice from [trumpeter] Alison Balsom when we were doing duet work together. She said playing should always be at the heart of what I do. “You’re a musician – you’ve got to stay true to who you are.”’
Lapwood can’t see a conflict between a concert career, teaching, conducting and presenting. ‘I am at my happiest when I’m busy and I’m making the most of it.’ She’s just recovering from the 2021 Bach-a-thon, after editing and broadcasting 24 hours of online performances by organists from 15 to 70. A quick sleep, then it’s back to a busy day of rehearsals with the college choirs. ‘You never know how long you’ve got to make a difference, so if it makes you happy, just cram your life as full as you can!’ she says cheerfully.